The Miraculous Heroine
by purpleblossom26
Summary: Have you ever wondered how Marinette came across the miraculous? Or how she met Chat Noir? This is the backstory of Paris's most famous crime fighters!
1. If the Jewelry Fits

Helloooo lovely readers! This is my first story and I'm super excited to share with you! I'm totally making this up as I go and scheduled chapter releases are just not going to happen, unfortunately. I know, I know, life can be such a pain in the butt, but it is what it is. Also, expect some mistakes. I have a few editors, but errors still seem to pop up every once in a while. So sorry in advance! In case you didn't read the summary, this is all based on the show 'Miraculous Ladybug' which I suggest you all check out if you haven't already done so. Anyways, enough with the banter, on with the show!

Chapter 1 - If the Jewelry Fits…

The attic door squeaked as Marinette pushed in up and into the dark room. She climbed the last of the stairs and hauled herself onto the rickety floorboards. A singular paned window supplied the lighting for the whole room, and the streams of twilight exposed the thick clouds of dust flying through the air. The attic was stuffed with brown boxes of memories, family trinkets and lots and lots of photos a few in color, but most on black and white.

Marinette maneuvered around the labyrinth of boxes, turning the boxes to see their labels before moving on. Taking out a hanky, Marinette sneezed and forged on. Dust was always her biggest enemy.

Closer to the back of the maze, Marinette finally came across what she was looking for a box labeled 'Old Sketchbooks.' Taking it off its pedestal of other boxes, she grabbed it from underneath and took it over to the window where she could see what was inside. She really wished she had brought a flashlight.

Prying open the taped flaps, she released another cloud of dust. Her breath stuttered before letting out another monstrous sneeze. She wiped her nose again before searching through the box's contents.

Like the box had advertised, there were loads of sketchbooks that were filled with all kinds of fashionable drawings from dramatic ball gowns to studded clutch purses. Marinette flew through the pages admiring her grandmother's handiwork. She loved her grandmother's drawings. They were always so in depth, but still looked so simple. But that wasn't the only reason she wanted to follow in her footsteps. She was recognized by thousands of famous designers from all over the globe. She'd traveled to every continent displaying her work and teaching young aspiring designers about how the business was run. This was what she was doing at the moment as well. She rarely came home, which was sad to Marinette, but she knew her grandma was happy and so she dealt with the absence of her role model for the time being.

Back in the stuffy attic, Marinette just finished flying though the last sketchbook. She placed in the pile she started beside the box and absent mindedly reached in the box for the next book, but slightly retracted her hand when it touched leather.

"I never cared for leather all that much. It just doesn't have the same comfort as wool to be quite honest," was what her grandmother had told her once. Then, what did she have a leather briefcase for? Curiously, Marinette held the surprisingly light bag in her hands and pulled back the flap. The fabric inside was all worn and torn in some places, however it was completely at a loss of contents. If it looked so used, why didn't she recognize it?

Deciding to ask her mother, Marinette stood up, brushed the dust and grime from her pink pants, and started walking to the door in the floor. She completely forgot about the stack of sketchbooks in her way as she found herself falling face forward to the ground. The leather bag slipped from her grip and fell in front of her. She groaned in pain and annoyance at her own stupidity before reaching for the bag. Her hand grabbed the bottom and lifted it up with her as she dusted herself off again.

From the corner of her eye, Marinette noticed a small box, about the size that would carry an engagement ring, lying on the floor where the bag fell. Curious, she made sure to step over the books before moving towards the black suede box and picking it up.

The lid jutted open with Marinette's hand to reveal a pair of shimmering black and red polka dot printed earrings. She stared as the glossy finish gleamed in the late sun's beams. They were truly beautiful. Making sure no one was watching, Marinette stashed the earrings away in her circular clutch purse and started cleaning up the mess she had made. Her grandma wouldn't mind if she borrowed them, surely.

Pulling her attention back to the reason she had come up in the first place, she picked out the sketchbooks she wanted, and put the rest back in the box on top of the leather briefcase. She placed the now lighter 'Old Sketchbook' box back where she found it on top of the other boxes and wasted no time getting out of the attic, but made sure to close the door behind her.

She climbed down the spiral staircase and shut herself in her room. Staring down at the multiple sketchbooks in her hand, Marinette walked over to her pearl stained desk and plopped the books down. After sorting the books apart by article of clothing, Marinette began to work on her school project.

A few tossed personal sketches in the trash bin later, Marinette heard a strange noise. It sounded like a cross between a bee's buzzing and the cat's scratching, if that was even possible. Apparently it was. The pencil lead on her own sketchbook paused its dancing across the page as she tried to listen more closely. As quickly as it had started, the disturbance faded away, leaving Marinette to thinking it was a figment of her own exhausted imagination. Scoping across her room one more time, she gave up and returned to her hopeless assignment.

A few moments later, the buzzing sound returned. Now on high alert, Marinette was certain the noise was not just her mind trying to play tricks on her. She rose from the swivel desk chair and started searching through her room for the source. She pulled back the floor to ceiling sheer curtains, looked behind and under her bed, and even climbed up to her peer above the ceiling fan, but still found nothing. The longer the search went on, the louder and more violent the buzzing became. Just as the stress was starting to get to Marinette, she felt a vibration on her hip. She had completely forgot to take off her purse from earlier. But her phone was on the desk.

So then what was vibrating?

Cautiously, and after gathering her courage, Marinette unclasped her purse and slowly opened the sides. Immediately, a red blur shot out of her bag and started flying through her room, bouncing off the walls and nearly knocking over her bookshelf. Scared out of her mind, Marinette squealed and dove for cover under her desk. With her hands over her head, Marinette watched as the blur continued to dart around her room until everything suddenly became silent.

Cautiously, Marinette began to creep out from her hiding spot. The room was exactly as it was before. No mess at all! It's like that blur had a mind of its own! _What is this assignment doing to me?_ she thought to herself. Blaming the heavy workload, Marinette decided to put all of whatever was left of her sanity into this project. She crawled out from underneath the desk and moved across the room where her chair had rolled to. She pushed it back to her workplace, sat down, and swiveled to her sketchbook. She picked up her pencil and put it to the paper before realizing there was a red figure lying down in a deep sleep.

She couldn't smother the shrill scream that found its way out of her throat. After realized what she was doing, she covered her mouth with both hands and scooted the chair all the way to the back wall. Still for some reason, the little creature had yet to even move.

A loud thudding came from outside her door before a loud knocking came from behind her door. "Marinette? What's wrong? What was that loud banging earlier?" her mother called concerned. Marinette face palmed. Of course her mother had to hear everything. What a day this had to be.

"Uh," she stuttered, "Well, it's nothing, really mom. I just dropped something really heavy on my foot. Sorry, I didn't mean to scream." There was a long pause while Marinette waited in nervous agony.

"Well, if you say so. Do you need the ice pack?" she insisted.

"NO!" Crap, she left her emotions unguarded and ended up yelling at the door. She coughed, trying to make it sound like an accident, which it was. "I mean, no that's okay. It'll be fine. I can just wait out the pain. Thanks though. Love you!"

"Okay okay, my goodness. I'll be downstairs if you need anything." And with that, Marinette heard soft footsteps grow fainter and fainter. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"She seems nice. Was that your mother?" asked a soft, sweet voice. Marinette's eyes widened to the size of baseballs. She slowly swiveled her head to her desktop, where the red doll -sized figure was now sitting up with its large orbs for eyes staring right at her. Her jaw dropped to the floor as she stared back.

"...Yes, she was," she was finally able to say after remembering how to speak. Who, or what, was she speaking to? "And, who are you exactly?"

The question seemed to bring the creature back into a business like stature. It stood on its two feet and straightened its back. "Ah yes, time for introductions! My name is Tikki and I'm here to tell you that you have been chosen to be the next holder of the miraculous!"

Marinette's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she scooted in the swivel chair over the the desk. She propped her chin in her hands and stared down at Tikki. She didn't seem to be more than ten inches tall. What exactly was she? She was small in stature, had a high pitched voice, and could fly around at incredible speeds. Did that mean she was a...

"Are you a fairy?" Tikki seemed to be annoyed that her reaction to her amazing reveal as the keeper of one of the precious miraculous was a question about what she was.

"Sure, if it makes this easier for you, call me what you want. But what I'm trying to tell you is that the miraculous had chosen you! This is a BIG deal..." she trailed off.

"Marinette," she finished.

"This is a big deal, Marinette! The miraculous has chosen you to be its guardian, as well as keeping the world safe from evil! You should be taking this seriously!"

Things were starting to get heated and Marinette wasn't sure how she could believe what this fairy/person/thing was trying to tell her. She, a guardian? Oh please, Marinette wasn't even capable of watching the store when her parents were out. How was she supposed to protect a miraculous...thing.

"What even is a miraculous? I don't even know what I'm supposed to be protecting!" She argued, raising her voice to match Tikki's.

Instead of answering with words, the small fairy flew into Marinette's lap and into her purse, still at her waist. Tikki crawled back out carrying the black ring box and placed it into Marinette's hands. Her annoyed expression was replaced by something between sincerity and sorrow.

"What's in this box is far more precious than any diamond or famous artwork, and out of all the billions of people now roaming the Earth, it has chosen you to be its protector." She flew back onto the sketchbook and smiled widely at her. "And don't worry Marinette, because now you have me here to help you! I'll always be there for you along the way."

Marinette was speechless. She stared back at Tikki taking in her words before glancing down at the little deceiving box in her lap that was apparently concealing the world's biggest secret. Opening the suede lid, she admired the little studded earrings. The sides of her lips curled into a smile as she held the jewelry in her hands. She looked to Tikki for approval, and she smiled. The little creature zipped from the table, took the miraculous and attached each of the earrings to each of her delicate lobes. Marinette reached across the desktop to the free-standing mirror and brought it closer. Her bangs were able to cover the studs from the front, however, from the side, they were in full view. If all she had to do was wear a pair of earrings, then being protector of the miraculous didn't seem like such an impossible task.

"Of course, those aren't just regular earrings, you know," came Tikki interrupting her thoughts with a knowing smile on her face.

...Huh?

Marinette had never known how wonderful Paris looked at night from the rooftops. The soft glow of street lamps radiated a romantic feel that gave the place a whole new definition to 'The City of Love.' It was well past sunset, but still the hustle and bustle of the city people was still in full swing. Not wanting to attract attention, Marinette made sure to stick to the shadows whenever possible. When leaping across streets, she was always wary of pedestrians spotting her from below. But the more she ran and swung between buildings, the more relaxed she became. She understood now why the miraculous would be so desired. This feeling of ultimate freedom was something she never could have imagined.

A permanent gleeful smile was plastered on her face. Her dark blue hair would have been a monstrous mess had they not been in their two infamous pigtails, but that was the last thing on her mind. It was almost unbelievable that she was completely clueless to what would flip her life upside down just an hour earlier.

" _What do you mean 'not just earrings?" Marinette questioned suspiciously._

" _Well, my dear friend, instead of using mere words, allow me to_ show _you. All you need to do is brush the miraculous with the back of your hand."_

 _...That was it? A simple brush of the hand was all it took to activate the most precious object in human history? Marinette was skeptical did as she was told. Casually tossing her bangs over her shoulder, her hand brushed against the glossy jewelry. Then Marinette watched in horror as Tikki was somehow sucked into the earring._

"Don't worry, Marinette, I'm okay," _Tikki assured her. Marinette felt a wave of relief pass over her. The last thing she wanted was Tikki to get hurt and leave her to figure out how to protect the miraculous on her own._ "Let the miraculous do what it was made to do."

 _As if on working under a spell, her hands concealed her face momentarily before darting away to reveal a black and red polkadot mask. Her arms flailed out as a similarly styled suit began to materialize all over her body, from her neck to her feet. Her clutch purse was now replaced by a hand-sized polkadot circular locket which secured itself on her hip._

 _Fully transformed, Marinette walked across her room to the full length mirror hanging from her closet door. She was completely in awe. She had never worn something so scandalous before, but at the same time so covering. Apparently Tikki heard her thoughts because she heard because she could hear her uncontrollable laughter. Her face flushed so red it was difficult to tell where the mask separated from her face._

" _Okay, okay, so I have a superhero suit...now what?"_

 _This was exactly what Tikki had been waiting for her to ask._

"Now," _she said slowly_ , "we see what you can do." _Before Marinette knew what she was doing. Automatic instincts kicked in and she was flying out the window and running across her neighbors' roofs living the life she never knew she would have._

Yeah, _she thought_ , I could get used to this.

The next morning Marinette woke up and ran through her daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, and the works. But she explicitly made sure to wear the ne earrings, as Tikki insisted. She had wanted to hide the jewelry in the box she had found them in, thinking they would be safer at home, but because Tikki said otherwise, that's how it was.

Soon she found herself walking outside the school where Alya, her best friend, was leaning against the barred fence waiting for her. She looked up from her phone and had the largest grin on her face since the new tech store opened up down on 6th.

"Oh. My Gosh. Marinette, did you see? Please tell me you saw." Alya blurted once she saw her.

Marinette put on an uncomfortable smile, "Uh, see what exactly?"

Alya rolled her eyes at her friend's internet ignorance. "See _this_!" She explained jutting her smartphone in Marinette's face. After a moment of staring, her eyes widened to unimaginable lengths.

What, more like who, was on the phone's screen was _her_! Okay, sure, the photo was terrible quality and it didn't show her face, but it was her from last night swinging across the city. Apparently she had been too careless and allowed someone to take a picture of her. This was just _wonderful._

"Isn't it wonderful!" Alya exclaimed reading her thoughts, "A mysterious figure people are calling 'The Ladybug' was spotted patrolling the city! Friend or foe nobody knows, but one thing's for certain!"

"And that would be..?" Marinette asked scared of the answer.

Alya gave her a smug look, "That _I'm_ going to be the one who reveals their identity, of course!" She pumped a fist in the air, "This is going to be my big break in the journalism world!"

This was bad. Alya was her closest friend-someone she told everything to! She wanted nothing else but to be able to talk about everything that had happened yesterday, but now she wasn't so sure such a big secret could be shared with anyone. Not even Alya.

"Hey, are you feeling okay? You look kinda pale." Alya interrupted her thoughts again. Marinette immediately straightened up and smiled, "Haha, no I'm fine, really! Maybe if I just get to class I can sit down and rest a little."

Alya was completely lost. Marinette had insisted on going to class, when it was usually her having to drag her butt there herself. What was up with her this morning?

"I better go, but good luck with your identity search!" Marinette turned around and facepalmed. Why was she wishing her luck when the last thing she wanted was for Alya to find out the mystery person was _her_ of all people. She really was hopeless. Suddenly something Alya said crossed her mind.

 _Ladybug, huh?_ she thought passing through the front doors, _not a bad name for a heroine, I suppose._

* * *

 **Ahhh! That's the first chapter! It would make my little heart sing if you'd leave me one of those little reviews, or a favorite! Alrighty, onto the next chapter!** **Thank you so much for reading!**


	2. Do Heroes Take Sick Days?

**Hello fellow readers! Thank you for being so patient with the awkward error from last chapter, I have since fixed it and lets cross our fingers my computer doesn't try to screw up again. On a lighter note, thank you all for your wonderful reviews and words of encouragement! As a beginner in writing fanfiction, it really motivates me to write better and more often, which I think we can all agree is in everyone's interest, hehe. Alright, now that all the thank you's are out of the way, here's chapter two! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2- Do Heroes Take Sick Days?

The events of previous night were starting to catch up with our young guardian. Marinette could barely hold her head up, and resorted to holding her chin in her palms, the perfect way to gaze at Adrien sitting just in front of her, so close she could almost touch his perfectly golden locks. He was gorgeous to look at, but even still, her eyelids felt like they were carrying weights which made it a constant battle just to keep them from closing. Tikki was doing her best to keep her friend awake by sending mental signals and pushing against her side, but there was only so much concealed inside a purse.

Sitting next to her, Alya took notice of her struggle and lightly elbowed her in effort to keep her awake. Marinette quietly groaned against the irritating prodding and finally gave into the temptation, allowing her eyes to flutter closed and her mind to wander. Alya rolled her eyes and turned her efforts to poking the girl's cheek. Marinette sleepily tried to fan away the irritation, but Alya was relentless. After all, Mrs. Harrison was turning around-

"Ms. Dupain-Cheng?" Marinette's eyes bolted open as she separated her hand from her face, "How are you doing this morning? Seeing as you're trying to sleep in my class, I'd say not so well." She questioned with daggers behind those kind eyes of hers. Marinette forced down an audible gulp.

"I'm fine Mrs. Harrison, really! Just a little tired is all…" She defended with her voice trailing off in a daze. Mrs. Harrison was obviously not amused, her kind smile concealing her irradiation.

"Well, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, if you're so tired, maybe you should go rest in the nurse's office." Marinette, along with the rest of the class, knew it wasn't just a suggestion. Embarrassed in front of her classmates, especially Adrien, Marinette gathered her things with haste and walked to the door. She opened it wide before stealing a glance at her crush. He gave her a reassuring smile that made her heart do somersaults. Realizing she was still staring, she mentally smacked herself awake long enough to make it outside. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she could hear Mrs. Harrison picking the lesson back up from where it stopped. It was a quiet and shameful walk to the nurse's office.

"Well, although not severe, you do have a fever, and you're awfully pale," the nurse assessed, "I think it's best if you take off the rest of the day, eat a nutritious meal, and get some sleep." Marinette nodded in agreement and picked up her shoulder bag. The nurse sighed with her hands on her hips. "Honestly, Marinette, you work yourself too hard. You need an extracurricular to join; something to distract yourself."

She would have laughed if she didn't feel so utterly exhausted. Testing out the miraculous and then trying to complete her homework proved to be a task she was not properly prepared for. Surely, protectors of miraculous didn't have school problems. What had she signed up for?

Taking the early absence note from the nurse, Marinette walked out of the office and passed a boy sitting on a bench. He was hunched over his laptop, with the screen illuminating his face in all the wrong places. He looked almost completely possessed by the machine, utterly enveloped with whatever he was looking at. Marinette pain no more attention to him as she passed through the school entrance and made her way home.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Paris, there was an old evil stirring. A masked man was back at work for the first time in many years, continuing what had been started so long ago. "So the miraculous has shown itself, it seems," he murmured as he observed the electronic screen stretching across the length of the wall. There was no doubt in his mind that what he was looking at was, in fact, the miraculous. But the photographer had obviously fumbled with the camera because it was impossible to distinguish any facial features. If he wanted the miraculous, he needed an identity.

And he knew just how to get it.

He turned away from the screen and made his way to the equally large window across the large room overlooking the hundreds of angled rooftops expanding as far as the horizon stretched. Thousands of white butterflies littered the floor, which then scattered through the air as his figure melded out from behind the shadows and into the light.

"All I need now is a vessel to carry out my resolve," he declared, holding out his palm. Without hesitation, one of the fluttering butterflies landed in his grasp and he covered it with his other gloved hand. Feeling the power surging through his being, he ushered it into the insect, transforming it into a jet black akuma. He admired his work as it crawled around his fingertips.

"Go, my pet, and search out my victim!" He bellowed, releasing the small creature. It fluttered through the window and out into the world. All he had to do now was wait and be patient- a skill he had plenty of time to perfect over the years. He would have what he wanted all in good time.

At school, the final bell rang and students filed out of the classrooms and into the hallways. Teenagers congregated in the commons to meet up and chat about the latest buzz.

Alya was at her locker organizing her book bag with both her homework and Marinette's. Normally, the pair would walk to either of their houses and hang out before the other's mother called her home for dinner. Marinette just _had_ to leave early on the day the teachers decided to gang up on the students and assign all the homework that Alya could possibly carry in just one book bag. It was going to be one long walk to Marinette's place.

She had just closed her locker when a familiar voice was shouting across the commons.

"What did I tell you, David? I wanted my French essay by the end of the day, and what do you tell me?" accused one angry male voice.

"I-I was just-" stuttered the belittled computer wiz trying to slowly back away from the bully, who Alya now recognized as Justin, the school's slacker who just so happened to be the son of a personal trainer and gym owner. The school student body wasn't big enough to have any competitive sport teams, but Justin made sure to be the captain of all the athletic clubs. As the strongest and most athletic student in school, who would want to stand up against him? Definitely not David, the school's specialized computer genius.

David had won a few awards over the years in technology and engineering. His most prestigious accomplishment was when he built a functioning computer with just a few scrap parts he scavenged from old television sets. However, socially, his reputation wasn't as respected in comparison to Justin's because in school, brawn has always beat brains.

"You were just what, Colbert?" Justin advanced, using David's surname, "You need to pull yourself out of your stupid stories and do what I say.

"Trust me," he tried to assure him, as a chiseled arm landed around his shoulders, "I know what's best for you."

David laughed uncomfortably, letting Justin's arm slide from his tense shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. I'll start the essay tonight and have it ready in the morning." David concluded. He turned to leave but letting him have the last word definitely did not bode well with Justin.

"Actually, you just reminded me of something," Justin rattled on, "The essay has to be hand written, and lucky for you, our handwriting is just as...unique. So I'll be taking that laptop as collateral until you're done."

Justin's arm swung to seize the computer, but at the mention of his laptop, David was on high alert. He dodged Justin's grip and dashed from the commons, shouldering his backpack as he ran. Justin was left yelling after him, but decided it wasn't worth the effort, letting the computer geek make his escape.

Alya observed the whole ordeal, and sighed regretfully. Now that David was gone, she wished she had been able to stand up for him. The now silent commons began to return to its regular volume of chatter as Alya left the school building behind and began the gruesome trek to Marinette's apartment.

When David had finally run out of breath, still thinking he was being chased, he turned into an alleyway and crouched down, making himself as small as possible. He was on the verge of panic, blinking back tears that stung the back of his eyes. All he wanted was to be left alone without anyone trying to manipulate him. Why was that impossible to ask?

Fluttering high above the city was the little black akuma. Along its journey, it sensed a sudden gloomy and distasteful aura coming from below. It instinctively descended from the atmosphere to its target.

David, staring at the ground, noticed the little butterfly shadow dancing on the gravel road and looked up to admire it. But he suddenly realized that no matter where he moved, the creature was heading towards _him._

Immediately cautious, David began to back away from the threatening black bug and down the alleyway until he found himself back up against a metal fence. His hands gripped through the wiring, calculating his odds of making it over the fence. He guessed it couldn't have been taller than ten feet, but then again, any type of physical activity was not one of his strongest areas.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway because the akuma was now descending for the final attack. Out of options, David released the railing and tried to swat away the black butterfly with his laptop, which was all the akuma needed to secure a hold on its victim.

It allowed itself to be absorbed into the computer, as its influence spread uncontrollably like a virus around both it and David. It happened instantaneously, leaving David unable to make any sort of effort to call for help. Like a feather in the wind, all David's terror was replaced with one thought- revenge.

"Hello, Tech Reaper," began a low voice, "My name is Hawk Moth and I'm here to give you everything you want: the recognition you deserve, freedom to do what you want without persecution, but most importantly, I can give you the revenge you crave so viciously." Without the distraction of a proper conscious, David saw no reason to reject a perfect deal.

"All I ask for," Hawk Moth continued, "is that, in return, you retrieve something that belongs to me. Do we have a deal?"

He chuckled darkly before answering with mischievous enthusiasm, "Well, how can I refuse an offer like that? I'll show them what _real_ strength is!"

"Excellent. Bring me the miraculous and all that you desire will be yours," replied the faceless benefactor before the link went silent. The akuma absorbed into his heart and left in place of the computer genius, a villain like no one had ever seen before. A vortex of layered computer codes enveloped him, slowly unraveling to reveal his villainous form.

He wore a skintight black sleeveless tank, accompanied by baggy military styled capri pants and a pair of freshly shined combat boots. His attire was completed with a dirt-brown duster coat that, at first glance, looked harmless, but if under further inspection, one could point out the numerous colored wires that coiled from his precious computer to a pair of wide rimmed circular goggles strapped around his face. Impressed with the amount of technology at his fingertips, he strapped the laptop to the mechanics wrapped around him and strutted to the entrance of the alleyway.

With the goggles he wore, Tech Reaper could see the entire city in one glance. He saw thousands of pedestrians walking through the streets, running between errands and places to be. After a moment, he was then suddenly aware that all of the different angles had something in common; they were all looking from a high angle, and only showed public areas. He saw the magnitude of streets around town, the docks, various parks, and even the alleyway he was currently standing in. The edged of his mouth curled into a childish smirk. He pulled down the specs and searched across the street until he finally found it- a security camera glinting against the late afternoon sun.

Replacing the goggles, he made his way out of the shadows and onto the sidewalk heading back towards the high school. The savory sweetness of revenge already danced on his tongue.

* * *

Marinette was abruptly awoken from her daytime nap by a pounding at her bedroom door. Letting out an unpleasant groan, she lazily slipped her feet from under the plush comforter and drifted towards the door. Along with Tikki's help, her hand lazily grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.

Faster than her half-awake mind could process, Alya slipped into her room with her shoulder bag so compact, it looked like a bomb just waiting to annihilate her brain. Her friend waltzed back and forth across the room until she finally made it to the deserted desk, where she threw down the schoolbag. The table creaked in protest, and Marinette secretly prayed it would hold against the weight.

Wasting no time, Alya skipped the introductions and 'how are you's and went straight to unpacking the bag. By the time she was finished, Marinette's desk was covered with future projects, last minute homework assignments, and even more textbook worksheets.

"Well, that basically covers everything you missed during a half day of school," Alya finished after listing out every individual homework assignment.

The formidable layout made Marinette's head spin. She wanted to go back to sleep and pretend it was all just a simple nightmare. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Settling for a chair, Marinette plopped down in the swivel chair and spun around as fast as she could, distracting herself from the monstrosity she would have to deal with eventually. Alya's hands gripped the back of the seat, causing Marinette to go flying to the floor.

"Ow.." she moaned rubbing her sore backside.

Alya stood over her friend with her hands on her hips with a displeased look. "You don't have time for playing around, Marinette. If you don't start now, you'll never finish." lectured Alya.

Of course Marinette knew she was right, which made it all the more unpleasant. As her eyes trailed along the list of things to do, she could have sworn the number of papers was multiplying by the second.

"Okay, okay, you win. I'll start now, but you have to help me, 'cause I have no idea what I'm doing..." she bartered. If she had all this work to do, she wasn't going to wallow in her suffering alone. After all, don't friends exist for situations like this?

Alya opened her mouth, probably to rebut against her, but a chime sounded from her back pocket, interrupting her. She pulled out her phone and the further she read the text message, the more her face shrunk in exhaustion.

"Looks like I can't. T.J. is being an idiot again and forgot to submit the newspaper edits for the second time this month. Now I, as the only one who would volunteer to be newspaper club president, have to go clean up his mess," she ranted on, hoisting her bag on her shoulder, "I'll go finish this up and I'll be back. It shouldn't take more than an hour."

Marinette waved a final farewell as Alya closed the door behind her. Marinette hesitantly turned her head to her less than appealing desk, debating whether she should get started or go back to bed. He was all for the latter.

"Well, it's not going to magically going to do itself. Better to just start now." Tikki encouraged appearing from her hiding spot in Marinette's purse. Marinette stood from her comfortable spot on the floor and let out an exhausted sigh as she plopped herself back down on the chair.

"If you're going to make me do this, then I'm making you help me until Alya gets back."

Half an hour passed of Marinette and Tikki searching the internet for homework help when her cell phone started ringing a familiar ringtone. It was Alya calling. Marinette picked up the device and hit the 'accept call' button. Instantly, yelling and sirens could be heard coming from the other line.

"Marinette? Are you there?" called a distressed Alya, "There's someone here who's terrorizing the school! I don't know how he's doing it but people are disappearing out of thin air! Please, Marinette, send help!" Suddenly the line went dead, whether intentionally or not.

Panic was starting to sink in as she suddenly stood from her chair causing it to fall backwards and land on its side. Not knowing what else to do, Marinette began to pace around her room, with Tikki flying right behind her.

"Marinette calm down! You know how to fix this!" Tikki encouraged, "This is why the miraculous exists, to help people like Alya; people in danger!"

Her hands ran through her scalp, trying to wrap her head around the situation. Alya, her best friend was in trouble, and from the sound of it, the police were having no luck bringing down the man responsible. But what could she possibly do that the police couldn't? They were the ones who were in charge of keeping the people out of harm's way!

Tikki rolled her eyes, reading her thoughts, "Yes, and what an _excellent_ job they're doing at that." she remarked sarcastically. She flew from behind into Marinette's path, causing her to stutter to a halt. "Marinette," she soothed taking her face in her arms, "you, the keeper of the miraculous have a job to do, and that is keeping the people safe. Remember what I said about me being there to help you? I won't let you do this alone, so for the sake of those innocent people, calm down, and _save them."_

With Tikki's contagious confidence, the panic faded away like an echo as her resolve settled in. If people needed her, then what other reason did she need to protect them?

"Alright Tikki, let's do it."

* * *

 **That's all for now folks! Keep up the reviews, and I'd love to hear what you guys are excited to read about next! Don't forget to favorite and follow for the next chapter!**

 **P.S. the curtain rises for a certain feline in our future! ;)**


	3. The Rookie Enters the Battlefield

Helloooo beautiful readers! I am so so _so_ terribly sorry for the long wait. You see, my high school marching band went to the national contest in Indianapolis, IN over the weekend and preparing for such a huge contest takes a lot and lot of _time_ (we got 13th out of 95 other bands from across the country by the way, so I'd say it was a SUCCESS) _._ So that's why I haven't had the time to write in the last two weeks. However, now that it's over, I have more time to do crazy stuff like this, so please forgive me!

As always, thank you all for keeping up with this story and leaving your lovely comments (seriously, you guys are the bomb dot com). I hope to write longer chapters in the future, but for now I hope this will suffice. Again, apologies for any errors as I wanted to get this to you ASAP (because you deserve it). Happy reading my lovely shippers!

Chapter Three- The Rookie Enters the Battlefield

It was chaos in the streets just as Marinette had heard over the phone. Cars on their way home from work had skidded to a halt in awkward angles as people fled their vehicles hoping to get away faster on foot. Police sirens blasted down the street, as blue and red lights flashed on top on their car roofs.

Marinette ran along the gutters multiple stories above the streets, tracing back to where the people were running from. A few noticed her, but didn't stop long enough to really consider who she was or what she was doing.

As she ran farther down the block, the panicked screams and yelling grew louder and more intense. Taking the yo-yo wrapped around her waist, she flung it around a brick chimney across the street and swung down into the panic below.

She landed in a crouch on a rear-ended van before leaping from car to car avoiding the heavy traffic of fleeing pedestrians. Now fully exposed, a few began to stare at her before remembering the reason they were running in the first place. Tikki seemed to sense her uneasiness.

" _Marinette, you're doing well. Stay focused and ignore the looks. They will only slow you down."_

She shook the thought from her mind and nodded. "Yeah, you're right," she agreed. "Look, I think we're getting close."

She turned the next corner and her eyes widened as she took in the destruction in front of her. Not only were cars everywhere she looked, they were completely toppled upside down, riding up lamp posts and a few had even smashed through few shop display windows. Luckily, all the innocent people had fled the scene, leaving Marinette's mind clear to take in everything around her. She wasn't sure what exactly she was expecting, but it would have never looked like this.

Her thoughts were suddenly filled with nothing but doubt. How could she possibly defeat someone who had the power to cause so much destruction? She'd much rather be at home listening to her music and drawing in her sketchpad. The police were there; they could take care of this, surely! She was just a fourteen year old girl, after all, what could she possible do in a situation of this magnitude?

She wished she had never gotten involved in this.

" _Marinette!"_ shouted Tikki from in her head, _"Stop thinking like that! We don't even have any idea what we're dealing with yet. The miraculous chose you for a reason. It wouldn't have accepted you if you couldn't handle this kind of situation. You can do it if you would just trust in the miraculous-"_

"No!" Marinette interrupted with tears threatening in the back of her eyes. She'd had enough of this. "I can't do this, Tikki. I'm too scared! I don't care if I was 'chosen', okay? The miraculous chose wrong. Who you need is someone who isn't afraid of anything- someone who's actually _brave_ \- and that's just not me, okay?" Marinette reached past her face and unclasped the precious earrings, the transformation lost its effect as the spotted suit dissipated, leaving Marinette back in her regular clothes.

Tikki tumbled from the buds in her palm as if kicked off a ledge and stared at the terrified girl with a dumbfounded look. No one had ever denied or turned down the miraculous before. What she supposed to do? She, herself, couldn't be the guardian, and now the world could easily fall into the wrong hands! She'd rather give up her immortal life than let that happen again. The only thing she could do was change Marinette's mind.

"Wait! Don't be so easily defeated! We can do this together!" Tikki encouraged, but it seemed to have no effect on Marinette. The tears finally rolled down Marinette's cheeks as she held out one hand to the fairy and handed off the miraculous earrings, and wiped away the tears with her other. Not knowing what else to do, Tikki took them tightly against her chest and stared unbelieving at what was happening.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but I'm just not cut out for this kind of thing. You, and the rest of the world, are better off finding a more capable guardian." She turned her back and began to walk down the street, back to her home hoping, somehow, she could forget all this insane destiny stuff that had befallen her and go back to how her normal, everyday life had been.

It hadn't even been a full twenty four hours since she had first come across the strange jewelry box in her attic and it had already been too much to handle. She'd met Tikki, had the most spectacular night of her life, and had finally agreed to protect the world's greatest prize.

But none of that mattered anymore. She was nothing special, and all the miraculous did was remind her of that. Not even an ancient power could change who she was- a helpless child. She bit her lip, in her attempt to stifle her pathetic whimpering and continued to walk down the street, maneuvering through the mess of cars and other vehicles, wiping away stray tears.

Hoping to be comforted by her best friend, Marinette reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She smiled sadly and even let out a chuckle as her favorite picture lit up on the screen. It was a selfie she had taken on a school trip to the Louvre with her flashing a peace sign, while Alya looked annoyed over her shoulder at the camera. Alya never really liked surprise pictures, and had been completely mortified when she found out Marinette had made her phone wallpaper a picture of her looking so condescending. That day would always be in Marinette's memories.

She scrolled through the device until she found the phone app. Alya's name was where it normally was, at the top of her favorites, as she pressed her number and held the cool glass to her ear.

From back behind her, a happy familiar tune resounded down the empty block.

Her feet came to an immediate stop as she turned in absolute horror. There was no mistaking it. It was Alya's phone. The same phone she never went anywhere without. The same phone she had called her on earlier.

Marinette walked swiftly, then quickened to a jog until finally running back again through the littered streets, following the ringtone. Her pace only stopping when she found the source of the jingle. The cell phone in Marinette's hand slumped limp by her side as she stared down at the ringing device at her feet. A shattered screen distorted the picture of Alya and Marinette together outside at the park laughing and smiling when they were only small children in the third grade. It had always been Alya's favorite photo.

Now, the device had been trampled on and abandoned in the middle of the road. Marinette bent down and carefully picked up her friend's phone, wincing when the shards of broken glass cut and dug into her fingertips. She stood again and glanced up and down the street looking for its owner. She called out for her friend, which went unanswered as tears flowed over the dried riverbeds on her cheeks.

There was only one explanation why Alya would have dropped her phone. She hadn't been able to escape from the monster that had caused this mess of a scene. Whoever was responsible had been wrong to do something of this magnitude, but now they had been wrong against her. And Marinette wasn't about to let them get away with it. Not in a lifetime.

Stuffing both their cell phones in her purse, Marinette made a mad dash back down the street. She cupped her mouth shouting, "Tikki! Tikki, where are you?"

It took a few minutes of yelling (and a few more tears) before she spotted a small red dot flying from around the next corner. Tikki wasted no time to fly straight into her chest, and Marinette hugged her friend tightly back. When they finally released each other, Tikki looked at Marinette is tear-stained eyes that looked like if a homeless man had just been told he had won the lottery.

"Oh my stars, Marinette! I thought the world was crashing around me! Please tell me you changed your mind!" she blabbered, the words tumbling out of her little mouth.

Marinette laughed out of her nose and nodded and a kind pleading smile. "If you'll forgive me, I'd like to teach this guy that he messed with the wrong girl." Then it was Tikki's turn to giggle, "Of course, but what suddenly changed your mind? Not that I'm complaining of course..."

Marinette suddenly lost her kind smile in exchange for a look of a hardcore resolve.

"He has my friend, Tikki. That's something I can never forgive." She stated plainly, but Tikki could sense the intensity behind her words. She smiled. She knew the miraculous hadn't made a mistake.

"Well then, I don't know what we're waiting for! Let's get suited up, Ms. Ladybug," she half-teased, revealing the miraculous earrings to their rightful owner. Marinette took back the jewelry and began attaching them to her ears.

"I should also mention, just after you left I was confronted by the enemy."

The earring pin stabbed Marinette's ear and she winced.

"Huh?!" She asked nervously. Tikki nodded.

"He found me and somehow knew about the miraculous stones. He started trying to trap me by using the security cameras, but I was able to avoid his attacks. From what I observed, he has a portable screen that he's able to ensnare people by using the cameras all around here."

Just as Marinette attached the last earring, she felt herself began to change into the familiar jumpsuit as the mask materialized on her face.

" _Oh, also, about the cameras-",_ Tikki began from in her mind, but was interrupted by a series of loud sparks. Once Marinette was able to unshield her eyes, before her stood a boy, who couldn't have been much older than her wearing a dark brown duster coat and a pair of intimidating goggles.

" _-he can use them to teleport,"_ she finished. Marinette sighed at how perfect Tikki's timing was.

"Who are you?" He asked her after dusting himself off, "Where did that little pixie with the miraculous go?" He turned his attention to the tablet in one of his inner coat pockets. "I'm sure she was from this camera…"

His unamused demeanor really ticked Marinette off. After all he had done, he wasn't the least bit interested in who he had to step on to get what he wanted.

Suddenly, images of Alya came streaming back through her mind. Pictures of her smiling, laughing at her terrible jokes and her hopeless crush on a certain blond. The way her eyebrows wiggled when she frowned at her handful of a newspaper committee. But then she imagined what Alya looked like in terror; running, trying to escape from the person standing in front of her, not even considering her to be a threat. Her fury began to boil over, and she had had enough; enough of this miserable feeling of being helpless.

Her best and only real friend was counting on her, and there was no way she was going to let a cocky techno freak like him harm anyone else.

She unclasped the string from around her hips and started swinging it by her side, allowing it to gain more and more momentum as she swung harder by the second. A spark of doubt flashed in her mind, but as quickly as it had appeared, Marinette eradicated it. She would never let herself go through that kind of self-pity again. Then, everything seemed to make sense.

"You know what, Tikki?" she asked aloud, "I don't know if I'm really cut out for this kind of thing, but if I can save Alya, I'll do whatever it takes."

Tikki would have shook her head smiling if she was in her physical form. "I never know what to expect from you, Marinette. Ready to take this guy down?"

Marinette smiled before walking towards her enemy, who was still concentrated on his tablet.

"Wait, she's _wearing_ the miraculous?" he asked aloud as if someone had been clarified something to him. Suddenly, his attention turned to her and he went into action.

He began typing something on the screen in front of him as a whirring sound came from Marinette's right, where a light pole was rooted. Tikki's warning about cameras immediately came rushing back, and not wasting another second, Marinette pushed with all her strength to throw herself anywhere but where she was.

Just as her feet left the ground, a beam from the camera illuminated where she was just standing. A car was snagged by the light and like clay, was dragged into the camera before disappearing completely. A smirk spread across the boy's face as he considered his next approach.

"You're quick, I admit, but nothing more than a nuisance," he said after a moment of consideration, "Why don't we end this now? Just hand over the miraculous, and I won't have to hurt you. I mean, you're still going to be a part of my story, but you won't get hurt. Well, probably."

Marinette would have laughed if she wasn't so riled up, so she settled with an unimpressed sigh. "Your bargaining skills are absolutely terrible, you know," she complained.

He casually shrugged. "Well, if I'm going to win, I might as well give you a chance. I'm just considerate that way," he bragged.

That was enough for Marinette to finally release the swinging rope towards her opponent and watch as it wrapped around his body, refraining him from moving his limbs. Unfortunately, his mouth was left unchecked, and was just as cocky.

"You're funny," he remarked with a playful smile, "You think you can beat me with simple methods, like this? Then this will end even quicker than I thought."

Although Marinette had successfully encased his body, his fingers were able to tap a button on his tablet and a beam from the camera shone on him, and just like the car from earlier, he completely disappeared. Her rope fell uselessly to the ground and she reeled it back in.

Tikki, where did he go?"

" _I'm not sure,_ she admitted, _but he definitely isn't gone for good if he wants the miraculous as much as he says."_ That much was practically guaranteed. It was just a matter of where and when he'd reappear. After the sparks had died down, everything went quiet again. Continuously glancing around, Marinette began to scout down the street. She leapt over cars in her way as she paved her own path.

As she passed a car thrown onto its side, a faint static buzz came from behind them, and Marinette once again was just able to dodge the attack. One second later, and she would have been caught in the tractor beam.

Marinette rolled off to the side and ended in a crouch behind a gray van.

"You can't hide, little bug. I have eyes _everywhere_ ," his voice drawled through the van's speakers. She leapt from behind the van and into the streets. A series of flashes sent long shadows stuttering in front of her. She turned around to see the boy now in person and rushed towards him.

"It's the laptop, Marinette! The screen holds his power! We have to find a way to destroy it." Marinette sent a series of jumping kicks, while he used his forearms to dodge any serious blows. She spun on the ball of her foot, and sent another spinning kick straight for his body. Like she anticipated, he blocked her foot, and shoved it away.

A victorious smile spread across Marinette's face as she gained the advantage. She used the momentum of his dodge to her gain as she thrust her other leg up and jabbed her knee towards his face. He was caught off guard and took the knee to his face. The force of the attack sent him sprawling backwards onto his back as the goggles went flying out of his reach. Marinette leapt over to them and smashed them under her foot. His eyes had finally adjusted to the sunlight as he processed what she had just done.

"No more deals. Now I'm just going to take what I want," he growled staring up at her from under his eyebrows. He began ruthlessly punching buttons on his screen and disappeared back into the cameras to regroup.

" _Marinette,"_ Tikki called from in her head. She had almost forgotten about her. _"You need to use your lucky charm. It'll give you the tool to defeat him!"_ Lucky charm? What the heck was that? She really wished Tikki would have explained what exactly the miraculous could do because these random abilities she was being informed about in the moment were difficult to keep up with. But then again, she was still unsure about the whole heroine thing not too long ago.

"Okay then," she said apprehensively, "What do I have to do?"

Before Tikki could answer crackling came from in front of her and even faster than before, the boy came shooting from above and swung a hardened fist at her. She dove away before he could make contact and readied to hit him with her own attack, but just as he had revealed himself, he disappeared back into the camera. "What the-" she asked aloud.

Again, flashing came from behind her. The boy shot out of nowhere and was able land a hit on her right leg this time. She swung in counter, but he had already made his escape. How had he suddenly become so fast? If anything, now without the goggles, he should have slowed down!

Marinette dodged left and right, avoiding some attacks while taking the rest in full force. The longer she went, the more tired she felt.

" _Marinette, use the lucky charm now! Throw the yo-yo as high as you can!"_ Tikki insisted with a hint of panic in her voice, sensing her weakening body.

Following her instructions, she did as she was told and tossed the weapon as high as her muscles could muster, and before her eyes, it began to emit a bright red glow.

"Lucky Charm!" she found herself yelling instinctively. From the sky, a roll of similarly patterned ladybug duct tape fell into her hands. Was this supposed to be the 'helpful tool' that could help her defeat this guy?

"Tikki…?" she asked confused, hoping the yo-yo had made a mistake.

"Well, I'm not sure exactly how the lucky charms help at first, but it will eventually make sense, I promise!" Tikki insisted with her own confidence wavering. Marinette rolled her eyes shaking her head. _Unbelievable,_ she thought. This wasn't going to be easy.

She In between attacks, Marinette took in everything around her. Then a plan formulated in her head and she smiled with confidence. She endured two more attacks before she sprung into the offence.

After dodging a kick, Marinette ran further down to the corner of the street, sticking multiple strips of the tape to her arm as she went. She launched the yo-yo up to the last light post and propelled herself to the camera lodged just under the light bulb. She took one of the strips of tape and stuck it to the camera's lense. Now with a bird's eye view, Marinette was able to leap from pole to pole, sticking tape to each camera she came in contact with. When she finally reached the end of the block, she had successfully blocked all possible exits for the culprit.

Looking back, the teen had been launched from the camera just under her feet before she closed that gateway as well. He stumbled before leaning against a nearby car to steady himself.

"It makes no difference," he huffed. "I am Tech Reaper. I cannot be stopped by your pathetic abilities!" Not waiting for Marinette to respond, he began typing vigorously into his tablet. Shaking her head in disbelief as well as pity, Marinette swung her yo-yo and knocked the tablet form his grasp, sending it skidding across the road. He reached out to get it but was knocked down on his stomach as the heroine swung from her perch. She picked up the computer screen and swung it down on her knees, splitting it into two. Tech Reaper's eyes widened in horror as he slumped to the ground in defeat.

Marinette was about to tie up the criminal when Tikki's voice entered her mind. _"Marinette! There's something coming out of the computer!"_ she exclaimed. Turning towards the shattered screen she saw Tikki had been right. A black butterfly fluttered from the wreckage and begun to fly away. _"No! We can't let it get away! It'll probably try to possess someone else!"_

Marinette leapt back into action. Really, she was not getting a break during any of this and it was extremely annoying. As the butterfly ascended towards the sky, she used the yo-yo to swing her up to the rooftops, chasing the creature. Every time she made to grasp it, it slipped from her gloved fingertips. She growled annoyed at the little pest and ran after it. Mentally, she was _really_ hoping no one was watching her, because she was sure she looked just like a kitten trying to catch a piece of fuzz floating through the air. Not image she wanted for herself.

" _Since normal attacks aren't working, try using the yo-yo again."_ Tikki suggested. Marinette was tired of chasing this bug anyways and was up for anything. She lassoed the string and swung the yo-yo at the black winged butterfly. To her surprise, the device on the other end opened up on one side and securely locked the bug inside. How did it know to do that?

The yo-yo flew back to her hand and she marveled at the deceiving little thing. This really was a big job, she thought as everything finally caught up with her. She'd almost given up completely and forever, and she would have too if it hadn't been for Alya. Wait, Alya! What happened to her?

" _You can let the butterfly out now, Marinette. I think all the evil has been drained from it by now."_ Tikki encouraged, concern hovering in her voice. Waking from her thoughts, Marinette tapped the device in her palm and out sprung the butterfly, not cleansed of all the evil that had once ruled over it. "Should we really be letting it go free?" Marinette asked. _"It's fine. It can't harm anymore."_ So Marinette turned her attention back to the street below, which was still a chaotic mess. She held the tape in her hand and wondered what she should do with it. _"Try throwing it."_ Tikki encouraged.

When Marinette threw the lucky charm, it exploded in a colorful burst, almost like a firework, but without the loud crack.

Before she could realize what was happening, the entire street below her was swept with a wave of ladybug spotted essence that was returning it back to normal. Cars began to right themselves and the things they had hit were repaired. The tape she had used disappeared as well. The only thing that was left was a familiar teen boy rubbing his head in confusion while staring down at his murdered laptop. Okay, well, not _everything_ went back to the way they were it seemed, but at least he was back to normal, and from the looks of it, seemed completely unaware of what had happened. How convenient.

All along the street, people were being beamed back out of the cameras, looking just as confused as the next guy. Marinette sighed in relief seeing all the people hadn't been hurt; frightened definitely, but not harmed. Then her eyes found the person she was looking for.

"Alya!" called out desperately. She leapt down gracefully from the gutters ricocheted off a lamp post and a repaired car before running up to her friend before using all her effort to keep from embracing her best friend. She was completely lost in her eyes that looked like they were hypnotized by a huge celebrity. Those weren't the eyes she had known for so many years.

"Oh. My. GOD!" she squealed, obviously using every ounce of self-discipline to keep from jumping like a little child, "Ladybug know my name!"

 _Ladybug?_ she thought furrowing her brows. Oh right, now she remembered. That was the name some people had started to call her by. It wasn't terrible but she was completely caught by surprise and she took a small step backwards. As she glanced around a small crowd of the victims was beginning to accumulate around the two of them, their curious eyes digging daggers into her soul.

"How _do_ you know my name, Ladybug?" Alya asked, pulling her into a deepening hole of anxiety. "W-well actually," Marinette stuttered trying to lie on the spot, which was obviously not her strongest area, "I... found this!" Marinette pulled out the shattered phone and held it out and Alya took it inspecting the damage with understanding eyes. "You see, Alya' was the name of phone's owner according to its contacts, so I figured you matched the picture on the screen."

Marinette mentally winced at her horrible lie, but in the heat of the situation, the crowd seemed to buy it. Alya put the phone away and smiled widely at her.

"Well, thanks so much!" Her face became more serious as she clasped her fingers together and stared down at them. "Actually, we should _all_ be thanking you. For saving us, I mean. I saw all that you did and I can't thank you enough Ladybug. Wait, is it okay if I call you that?" Marinette gave a light-hearted laugh while waving away the concern nonchalantly. "No no it's fine. Names don't really matter that much to me, so you can call me whatever you want." A smile spread across her best friend's face.

"Could I get a picture with you? My friend looks so much like you and I can't wait to tell her about you!" Marinette held out a steady hand. "Actually, I'd prefer no pictures please. I really have to go now." She finished by swinging herself back to the rooftops. Some had already begun taking pictures of the young girl and before she could disappear, she heard her friend ask one final question, "Who are you?"

Marinette smiled down at the crowd and gave them a confident thumbs-up. "You said so yourself. I'm Ladybug." Not wanting to risk another word, the heroine slipped behind the gutters and disappeared from sight.

It wasn't long before word spread through the city of the mysterious spotted hero, her miraculous fighting skills, and desire to purify the city of disastrous evils. Every pair of eyes and ears were tuned into the latest news, gossip, and theories about the hero. Some believed her claim, supporting her personal fight against strange terrorists, while others thought the police would be plenty against any future problems. But the fact of the matter that everyone came to accept was that Ladybug, Paris's new guardian, was there to stay.

This news perked up a certain black cat's ears as he picked up a crumpled newspaper that had gotten caught in the rafters. The corners of his mouth twitched playfully at the red and black covered girl and her dark ocean-blue hair.

 _Yes_ , he thought _, she is definitely something worth investigating_.

 **And there you have it folks! I would love love** _ **love**_ **it if you'd leave me a little comment or favorite! If you don't want to comment why don't you tell me your favorite side character from the original series instead? I'm seriously loving Alya right now (in case you can't tell, hehe), but Nino is also just as amazing! Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!**


	4. The Black Cat

Hey Guys! Did you miss me? It's been like a month since I last uploaded anything and I'm super sorry to keep you all waiting for so long! Please forgive me! I've actually had this chapter finished for a while but I wasn't really ready to publish it yet. I've been making more and more changes and now it's finally done (thank goodness). So yeah, I'm super sorry I've been so behind, but at the same time thank you all so much for your continued support! Once again, I apologize for any typos I might have missed.

Without any further delay, here's chapter four!

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Chapter Four- The Black Cat

It was a quiet morning for Adrien Agreste, just like any other. It started with the early morning sun bursting through his two story windows, illuminating the spacious loft. An orchestra began to play through the room's surround speakers at precisely seven o' five just like it always did. And just like always, Adrien moaned in protest, pulling a silk feather-stuffed pillow over his face.

Knowing Adrien would once again put off his responsibilities, the music began to grow in volume until even the plush pillow could not dilute the sound. Adrien's shoulders slumped in defeat as he reached across the bedside table to the remote. He pressed a button and silenced the music.

Now that the disturbance had been dealt with, Adrien stole the chance to crawl back into his sweet dreams. However, his efforts were short lived as Nathalie, his father's personal assistant, waltzed into his room.

"I hope you realize it's not necessarily my job to wake you up each morning. The overbearing music is suppose to do that," she explained. Adrien pouted in her direction, which was only returned by her natural emotionless frown. Finally giving up, Adrien hoisted himself out from under the luxurious and extremely welcoming blankets, and Nathalie excused herself to let him start his normal routine.

After a hot and extremely prolonged shower, Adrien dressed himself in a black t-shirt and a white button down, a comfortable pair of jeans, and his favorite red high tops. After evaluating himself in the full length mirror, making sure to check all of his good angles (habits of a model), he made his way downstairs to the dining room. He took his normal seat at the end of the table, which could easily fit twenty people or more. However, of all those seats, only one was taken.

Adrien would stare down the long table, and be reminded of just how lonely he was in this mansion. It was just him and his father, unless you counted Nathalie, but she technically didn't live at the estate. To Adrien, the mansion felt more like an expensive prison, with its endless, white walls with their unwelcoming doors.

However, something in Adrien's mind was putting him in a stellar, even giddy, mood. That night he had formulated a plan; it was an ingenious plan, really. He kept thinking about the girl everyone was talking about. She was truly incredible, he thought. She was a graceful fighter, had a desire for justice, and wasn't too sore on the eyes either. This girl was really something of a wonder in Adrien's eyes. Then again, he was sort of in the same league as she was.

"Oh please." A flying, black creature interrupted him. The mouse-like fellow was eyeing the slice of cheese sitting on Adrien's plate. "You're falling for a girl you've never even met."

Adrien smiled, unfazed. "And _that's_ why we'll be meeting her tonight," he explained.

The hand-sized creature gave the teen an unimpressed smirk and reached for the cheese. Adrien swiped it away just before it was stolen.

"Plagg, if you eat this, you have to promise you'll have to keep your thoughts out of mine tonight. Got it? No "

Plagg looked up at Adrien with the eyes of a begging animal. With a sigh, Adrien tossed the cheese to his companion, and Plagg swallowed it in one gulp. "Whatever you say. Just make sure I get another one of those later. That was good," Plagg hummed, rubbing his satisfied stomach.

The two of them suddenly heard the clacking of high heels down the hall. Plagg dove for Adrien's book bag just as Nathalie strolled in.

"The limo is here. Do you have all your things for school?" she asked.

Adrein nodded affirmatively, grabbed his bag, and walked past Nathalie down the hallway to the front entrance where the family limo was waiting outside in the roundabout. The driver, Jameson, opened the car door and closed it after Adrien had ducked inside. As long as he could make it through school without wearing himself out, meeting with Ladybug tonight would be a breeze. Even though it wasn't his main objective, maybe she wouldn't mind filling him in on her identity.

If anyone was going to find out who Ladybug was, Adrien was absolutely certain that it would be him.

* * *

"Don't you agree? If anyone's going to find out who Ladybug is, it's going to be me!" Alya argued on their way to school. Marinette had yet to decide if she should tell Alya about her...situation. But at the rate Alya was obsessing over Ladybug, Marinette wasn't sure if she could quiet her friend long enough to get the words out! Why did she have to be so determined to find out her identity? Ever since Alya first learned of Ladybug, all she had talked about was learning a name and matching it to a face!

Just the other day after school, Alya had dragged Marinette over to her house, just to show off her newly created blog, which was completely dedicated to Ladybug and finding out who she was under the mask. Marinette nearly had a panic attack thinking Alya had figured her out. After Ayla's explanation, however,Marinette realized that her friend didn't know anything, at least not yet. Marinette had suppressed her anxiety until she finally got home, and then released it as a fit of muffled screams into her pillows. It was nothing less than pure torture.

"Well, I guess the world's most prominent, upcoming reporter will soon make her debut, huh?" Marinette said with a smile. Alya pumped her fist with a grin.

"Oh, you know it girl! The 'Ladyblog' is going to get my name out there. People will know me as 'the girl who discovered the real Ladybug'. Not too bad, huh?" She lightly shouldered Marinette, who only shook her head in disbelief.

"I just can't believe how entranced you are by this one person. I really don't get why are you so hung up on this," Marinette admitted. Just like the changing of the tides, Alya had a reputation for an unstable attention span.

One week she would be completely focused on the newest social trends in America, and then the next she was stuck in the newspaper club room typing away about a disease outbreak in the middle east. She really was a busy bee, but Marinette hoped that Ladybug was just going to be another quick obsession. After this had all washed over, they could go back to talking about anything else. Really, Marinette would rather discuss the political corruption in the U.S. than discuss figuring out Ladybug's most effective moves. Well, maybe that was a stretch…

Alya looked like Marinette had just slapped her across the cheek. "How can you _not_ understand, Marinette? She's incredible! Seriously, how can you jump from a three story building and be unscathed?" Alya saw Marinette's wide eyes and backtracked. "I mean, I just owe a lot to her. Sheesh, don't judge me, okay?" she suddenly defended, embarrassed how easily she was able to admit the reason for her obsession. Marinette giggled at her friend's blushing face. Yeah, there was no way she was going to be able to tell her about being Ladybug. At least, not yet. These embarrassed reactions were too good to miss out on.

She reached down for her friend's hand and dragged Alya down the street until they arrived at the front of the school, smiling and cracking jokes all the while. Alya turned ahead to walk up the flight of steps when a flash of white pulling up from the down the road caught Marinette's eye. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw a familiar white limousine pulling up to the curb.

She felt her knees weaken. There was only person who drove up in such a magical way. The suited driver parked and moved to open the door for his only passenger. She watched as a perfect head of blond hair appeared behind the tinted window and soon the most handsome boy she had ever laid eyes on followed.

Adrien left the limo behind and waved to his best friend, Nino, who had been waiting patiently, leaning up against the railing blowing pink bubblegum bubbles. Nino saw Adrien and his sudden jerk popped the bubble coming from his mouth and it splattered across his face. He pulled the mask of gum from his skin and the two friends proceeded to fistbump and climb up the stairs to the school's open doors.

Alya's waving hand in front of her face woke her from her trance. "Earth to Marinette! Hello? Did you hear that? That was the bell!" Marinette was in too much of a daze to recognise the significance of her words and Alya rolled her eyes in disbelief. "...Meaning," she continued, "we're late for first period, you lovestruck dummy!"

At that Marinette blinked the rest of the magic spell from her mind and together they rushed inside. Luckily, they were able to make it into their seats directly behind the two boys from earlier just as Mrs. Harrison made her way through the door greeting students and organizing her desk.

"By the way," she sidetracked, "we still need helpers to set up for the Bastille Day party next week. We're lucky enough to have the Dupain-Chengs supplying the celebration with their famous sweets." A few people stole a glance towards Marinette, including Adrien, whose sweet smile nearly snatched her soul out of her body. "...but if anyone's willing to set up decorations, the sign-up sheet will be on my desk after class for the rest of the week.

"Now that we have that out of the way, let's continue our discussion on the reason we're celebrating Bastille Day in the first place! It was all because of the Parisian revolutionaries who fought for what they believed in and look where we are now…"

* * *

At first, Marinette wasn't sure she would ever get used to running freely through Paris at night, but now, she was sure she never would. The crisp air felt great against her face as she sprinted over the rooftops through the city of lights. After practicing the with the yo-yo for a few nights, it became more and more comfortable for her to use, and now she rarely swung into a wall. She had a few bruises all over her body from little accidents that she was luckily able to hide under her regular street clothes; however, it didn't make them hurt any less. Now she was able to successfully get from block to block with only hitting the occasional chimney.

Over the nights of personal training, Marinette had discovered a rooftop secluded away from popular, tourist crowded streets. Despite that fact, from the rooftop balcony, the view was utterly stunning. This was always where she went when her muscles refused to jump anymore, or on a few occasions, where she went to just remember who she was without the whole 'saving-the-day' persona. It was her favorite spot in all of Paris. It was easy to do some serious thinking here, and, of course, Tikki was always there for advice or just a friendly talk.

It wasn't easy to get up to the rooftop without being spotted, but after pulling on the yo-yo with enough force, it had the strength to sling shot her up without anyone noticing. Her feet landed lightly on the concrete roof. She moved to the railing and leaned over it, taking in the lights. She wasn't a tourist, but the view from that roof would never get old.

She put her chin in her hands and looked into the distance dreamily. Alya would love this. If there was ever a time where she could speak to her freely about who she was, this was definitely on the list of "must do's".

"Hey Tikki, do you think things could stay like this forever?" It was a childish question, she knew, but one she still wanted an answer to.

She could sense Tikki's intense thinking as she waited. "Well, it's impossible to guess what could pop into our lives when we least expect it-"

"Good evening, _Mademoiselle."_

Marinette nearly jumped out of her skin and she more or less gracefully leapt onto the ledge, turning to face the person who had successfully snuck up on her. She wasn't exactly sure who she was expecting, but definitely not someone like _this._ Whatever _this_ was exactly she didn't know.

The teen was standing a few paces away and was eyeing her like she was amusing to look at. His chaotic, golden hair flared out in all directions, and directly under his bangs, piercing through her, was the largest, greenest pair of eyes she had ever seen; they were protected by a black mask that covered everything from the tip of his nose nose to his wide forehead. The midnight-black, skin-tight bodysuit he wore was very similar to hers in style. However, she noticed an extra long belt that hung from behind him, almost like a tail, and a golden jingle bell that hung just below his neck. He laughed freely at her quick response to his presence and she could have sworn his teeth had a certain pointiness to them.

"Not bad for a first impression, huh?" He straightened himself and took a step forward while she took a step back. Looking disappointed by her reaction, he kept his distance but did not divert his attention. "The name's Chat Noir, but you can call me tonight, _my lady_ ," he purred through a cocky smirk. Suddenly, all her worries seems to ease. This guy was just trying to cause problems. Well, she wasn't about to just let him walk over her like a runway during fashion week!

"Is that the best you can do?" Ladybug teased. His eyes widened in surprise, if that was even possible with how large they already were. "If you're trying to catch my attention, first you'll have to, well, _catch_ me." She stood from her crouch, extended her arms out and let gravity take its hold on her as she leaned backwards.

Chat opened his mouth, but there was no longer anyone there to listen. He ran to the ledge and leaned over to find a red figure already swinging down the block before landing on a roof. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, revealing the same playful grin that was starting to take over his own face.

Extending the baton from his belt, he started to follow her, jumping from the balcony and feeling the wind rush through his tangled locks.

Ladybug sprinted across the roof shingles, maneuvering around various obstacles. What was with this city and its insatiable desire for chimneys? But they weren't really a problem to get around. In fact, they made it extremely easy to lose Chat's trail on her, even if he ended up finding her again anyways.

What was she _thinking_? Ladybug thought remembering her earlier conversation, as a mortified blush traveled across her cheeks. She just wanted to put herself on the same playing field as him, show him she wasn't so easily taken. But why did she have to entice him? Ugh, she shouldn't have said anything and should have just walked away. She had dug her own grave and didn't know how to get out! It must have been the miraculous! It had been secretly boosting her confidence! That must have been it. She would have _never_ flirted with a stranger as Marinette, but as Ladybug…

She was doomed, and she had to get out of here; she had to get out fast and by whatever means necessary. Scanning her surroundings, she quickly changed directions toward an outward extending, glass roof, and crawled up and over the adjacent, back-to-back brick chimneys. Hopefully, she would at least be able to catch her breath here, and maybe formulate how to get out of this terrible situation she had gotten herself into. But that wasn't going to happen.

By the time she had heard the footsteps and turned around, his face was just inches away from her own.

She couldn't bring herself to yell or scream. She couldn't even get her mouth open for crying out loud! And so they just stared at each other. All her confidence had completely vaporized, leaving her at the mercy of the black-masked blonde. Alya would be disappointed, she thought. Someone she looked up to so much was helpless against this boy. She felt her hands begin to tremble, so she hardened them into fists. He apparently noticed her uneasiness and lost his playful smile.

Chat looked away and moved out of her personal space, taking a few paces back. Ladybug released the breath she had been holding and willed her body to relax. Gosh she was pathetic.

"I don't intent to harm you," he said simply, massaging his neck, making the bell twinkle. "So don't get the wrong idea."

Ladybug relaxed her hands and tried to compose herself. "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking saying all that stuff. But why did you use such a cheesy pick-up line?"

"What? Was it that bad? I planned that scene in my head all week." He laughed into his hand.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? All week?"

Chat's laughing died away, but he kept his face in his glove to hide a spreading blush. This was not how he planned this conversation to go. He should have practiced more. "Well, if I'm going to meet someone like 'The Famous Ladybug', I might as well prepare myself, right?"

"I'm hardly worth the effort, but thanks," Ladybug insisted, a small blush betraying her relaxed tone.

An awkward silence filled the space between them and was really starting to crawl into her skin. She'd rather be giving a presentation in front of a hundred Adriens than be standing here with this total stranger. This was worse than talking to Alya about how amazing Ladybug was. She had to say something, anything to get rid of this unbearable silence!

"You're really fast," she found herself admitting. It wasn't an amazing start, but it was better than nothing. "I ran as I could but you still caught up so easily. You could have easily taken the Tech Reaper from that time without any issues."

Chat let his hand fall to the staff in his other hand and shortened it to twirl in his hand. "I'm not the 'save-the-day' type, really. I'm no good."

Ladybug stared at him aghast. If he was capable of keeping up with her, she knew he was just as capable as her, if not more, since he could easily sneak up on her without fail. So why was he determined to stay out of the spotlight? It definitely didn't match his character.

"I don't believe that for a second. You're more than capable of doing whatever you want."

The words seemed to strike a chord somewhere in him, as his cheeks turned red from under the mask. "Thanks, but I've learned the hard way that that's not true." For some reason, Chat constantly putting himself down was starting to get on her nerves.

Suddenly, a loud crying caught their attention coming from the park across the street. The two looked over the railing to see a young girl wailing on the swing set. Ladybug prepped herself to drop down and looked at the unaffected blond.

"Well?" she offered nodding to the girl. The corners of his mask furrowed.

"Well, what?" he asked confused. "I already told you I'm not the hero type. You can take this."

Her patience had finally run out and there was no way she was letting him off the hook easily. Ladybug closed the distance between them before he had the chance to back away.

"You said your name was Chat Noir, correct?" he nodded nervously when his mouth refused to say words.

"Well Chat, this is your lucky day because tonight you're going to be the 'hero type'."

In an instant Ladybug wrapped her hand around the bell at his neck and dragged him towards the edge of the roof, ignoring all his protests.

The updraft sent chills down his spine as he eyed the three story drop to the concrete sidewalk below. "Let's see if cats really do have nine lives."

He had started to form words just as he felt himself falling.

* * *

 **Ahhhh what? It's a bit of a cliffhanger this time so maybe it'll force me to write faster. Yay for me.**

 **Thanks as always for favoriting and reviewing! See you in the next chapter!**


	5. Camille

Happy holidays fellow readers! I have an announcement that I never thought I would get to make: Miraculous Heroine has reached **50 followers**! Are you guys for real? Like, what? I cannot believe this! You guys are incredible thank you thank you all so much! The numerous messages and comments I've received are mind blowing. Fo realsies. (Have I said thank you yet?)

Here's to another chapter!(sorry again for any overlooked errors) Love ya'll '3'

* * *

Chapter Five- Camille

Apparently Chat had been affected by Plagg's terrible luck because his evening was turning out to be nothing less than a complete disaster. His plan was completely backfiring and now somehow he felt like getting the girl of his dreams to fall for him just got a lot more complicated.

He had gone over his plan all day, just to make sure everything went like he wanted, and so far anything but that had happened. She was suppose to find his jokes and silly cat puns funny, when in reality she thought they were stupid and had run away. She literally ran away by jumping off a building.

He'd even confessed his feeling to a certain degree, but she had passed them off as a joke. Why did she have to take the puns seriously, but his sincere feelings like a joke? His whole night was a giant train wreck and he didn't know how to get off. As if things couldn't get any worse, now he was falling from a building. Yeah, things were going just great.

Who did she think she was, anyways? No normal person would push someone off a roof just to _prove a point_. This girl must be completely mental. He completely misjudged her, assuming just because she wore a mask and saved Paris a few times she was the perfect girl. Geez he was such an idiot. There was no way they were going to work out, he finally decided.

Chat finally turned his attention back to the situation at hand. Falling to his possible death was not something he had expected but also not something he wasn't prepared for.

Taking the baton from behind him he held it vertically, propelling it down the ground to slow his fall. The metal connected with the concrete as he slid down the rest of the staff. His boots met with solid ground and he let out a relieved sigh before noticing the rope tied around his waist.

He followed it back up the building to where Ladybug crouched over the edge with a knowing smile, holding the yo-yo in her hand.

He quickly untied the string and glared at her as she retracted the string.

"I could have died, you know."

She shook her head while rolling her eyes. "What do you think the rope was for, silly kitty? Plus, I figured as a cat you would land on your feet."

Now she was the one doing the teasing. Wonderful.

"Ha ha very funny." The soft whimpering from across the street regained his attention. "Hey, aren't you going to take care of that?" he asked pointing his thumb in the park's direction.

Ladybug began to fidget while slowing backing away from the roof's edge. "Well, actually, you see, it's getting pretty late and I have somewhere I need to be, so I was kind of hoping, maybe you'd take this one?"

Chat's eyes went wide. "Wha-"

"Oh you will? That's great! I'll just leave this to you then. See you soon! Don't screw it up!"

He reached out a hand hoping to grab her attention, "Ladybug wait!" He called to the empty rooftop. He let out annoyed growl while letting his hand drop limp back to his side. Yeah, definitely not the girl of his dreams. He'd fallen in love and just jumped out of it.

He considered following her, but it wouldn't really change anything. Plus, he didn't want to look like he couldn't handle a child. Even if he no longer had any interest in her, he didn't want Ladybug to think of him like that.

That's strange. If he were at school, would he really care about what others thought of him? No, definitely not. But for some reason, he felt the obligation to help this child that couldn't take care of himself. He was hopeless in this suit. Mentally thanking Plagg for the subconscious influence, he grit his teeth and crossed the empty street.

Passing through the park's entrance, Chat realized how ominous the atmosphere was. It wasn't too late, but the sky had already turned dark and all the children had left for home. That is, except for one.

Chat found the source of the muffled cries at the swing set sitting directing in the light of a lamp post. The girl who looked around ten or twelve years old was so distracted she didn't even hear Chat approach. He walked past her to the pole supporting the swings and leaned up against it. He was just out of the light's reach just in case he needed to make a quick getaway. No need for unnecessary people to know about him after all. Not to mention he had never been in charge of a child before. Things could turn sour really fast.

"Hey, kid what's wrong?" His cool voice asked interrupting her thoughts. Her blonde hair jerked up; her eyes wide with fear. She fell from the swing in her attempt to get away and landed on her backside tried to wipe away stray tears.

"Listen, you don't have to be scared, okay?" he tried to comfort, extending a clawed hand into the light, but only frightened her more. The girl crawled away a few feet before gathering herself and making a dash for the jungle gym.

She tripped in her scramble but didn't stop to rest until she had made it to the top of the structure after climbing the rock wall and the small flight of stairs. She crouched by the slide and covered her mouth, trying to stifle her whimpers. Glancing over the wall that protected her from the ten foot drop to the ground, she finally let out the breath she had been holding when she couldn't find any sign of the creepy guy with the black gloves.

"Kid, are you okay?" Chat asked from behind her.

The surprise sent the girl's body forward and over the railing. Before a scream could reach her throat, the girl was pulled back by the scruff of her collar. Falling to the floor with adrenaline pulsing through her, she turned over her shoulder to finally see the face of her attacker. Well, now should she call him her rescuer too. Things were already getting complicated.

Now that he was semi in the light, she could finally get a good look at him. On top of his ruffled blond hair stood two pointed black ears, and his emerald green eyes were surrounded by a black mask that covered most of his face. Could she still make a get away if he was able to catch up to her so fast? Now that she thought of it, while she was still trying to catch her breath, he wasn't even breaking a sweat.

"Please calm down, will ya? Keep this up and you're going to get hurt." She opened her mouth to say something, but her mind was at a loss for words. Should she scream for help or thank him for saving her?

Chat smiled his usual cocky grin. "I know. I'm beyond words. You can keep staring if you want. I don't mind."

Her cheeks instantly lit aflame as she slammed her mouth shut nearly biting her tongue in the process.

"I-I was not staring at you!" She finally stuttered turning her head in the other direction.

"Sure, whatever saves your pride." Now that this girl wasn't running away from him maybe he could actually talk to her without freaking her out.

"Why were you crying earlier? You really shouldn't be out this late, you know." He asked sincerely sitting down across from her.

Even with the blush subsided, she kept her face turned away. Why couldn't she look into his eyes? "Yeah, I know I shouldn't," Her face slowly swiveled just enough for him to see both of her eyes, "but there's no way I can go home either." She realized that she was spilling her problems to a total stranger and covered her mouth. "Wh-what am I saying? My problems are none of your business! So just leave me alone!" she exclaimed.

The girl finally looked to Chat's glowing green eyes which were staring right back at her. Her breath hitched. It wasn't a harsh stare, but something else. It felt sympathetic, like he knew how she felt without even knowing what was wrong. Just who was this guy?

"That's a shame." He said finally breaking the silence. A soft groan croaked from his throat as he stretched his arms over his head. He let them fall back into his lap with a sigh. "I'm not leaving until you spill, so you better hurry up," he said slightly loosing his composure.

She eyed him cautiously. "Why should I tell you anything? I don't even know your name."

Instead of replying right away, he held out his hand to her. She recoiled instinctively holding her hand to her chest, but he did not advance further. "The name's Chat. Chat Noir."

She bit the inside of her cheek indecisively. Her gaze traveled from his face, to his hand, and back up. "That's not your real name."

He smiled. "Of course it's my real name. I just so happen to go by two names." The girl didn't say anything else but stared at his still offering hand.

"You know, this is the part in the conversation where the other person usually says their name and we shake hands." He encouraged lightly wiggling his clawed fingers.

Giving in, she reached across the distance between them and took her hand into his much larger, stronger one. They shook once.

"I'm Camille."

* * *

After a while of talking, Camille and Chat had moved back to the swing set. As Camille swung on the squeaky swing, Chat hung from the bar above. Camille had slowly, but eventually opened up to Chat and began to confess her dilemma. Chat was prepared for some stupid excuse for a problem, but he would have never guessed he could relate to her as much as he did. Once Camille had finished her story uninterrupted, silence grew between them.

Camille looked up to Chat sadly. "Do you think I'm being selfish?" she asked scared of his response. She's almost broke into tears, and she was doing her best to keep the dam from breaking. Chat crossed his arms and shook his head without looking at her.

"No. I don't." he answered honestly, "But, I also think you need to be honest with yourself. Do you really think running away is the best solution?"

Camille stared off into the darkness, gripping the metal holding up the swing.

"No," she admitted, "but it's the only thing I could think of at the time. I needed to get away as far as possible. Have you ever tried to run away? It's a lot harder than the stories make it look."

Chat hated that he knew all too well.

"Do you want my opinion?" he asked trying to avoid the subject and painful memories. She nodded. "Go home, Camille. Make up with your mom. At the end of the day, wouldn't you rather have a place to belong and have a family that loves you than live on your own trying to take on the world by yourself?

"It seems hard now, trust me I would know, but in the end you'll be glad you have people around you that care about you." Chat back flipped off the bar and landed in front of her, showing off his flirty smirk. "Don't make me carry you there myself." he threatened playfully.

Camille's eyes gleamed and she broke into a fit of giggles. "I'm sure, my mom would just _love_ to meet you Chat." She teased.

"What? I'll have you know I would be the purr-fect person to take home!" Chat defended. Camille's giggles stopped abruptly.

"Was that a _cat pun_?" she asked eyeing him. She stood from the swing and jabbed an accusing finger at his chest. "Because I thought we were having a nice mew-ment!"

Chat's head leaned back as he laughed. Finally! Someone understood how amazing cat puns were! Unlike a certain someone.

"I like your cat-itude, Camille! You're a pretty pawsome chic, yourself." he challenged back.

Camille's eyes lit up. "Oh so meow it's a contest? Well, in that case I'm paw-sitive you're going to lose!"

"You're feline pretty confident about your puns, Camille! I better call the purr-amedics, because you're about to choke on purr own words!"

"Ha! I win! You already used 'purr'!" She exclaimed keeping herself from jumping with excitement. After all, it wasn't everyday you beat a cat at its own game.

Chat shook his head watching Camille celebrate her victory. Apparently, his puns weren't as strong as he thought. At least he was able to wash away that sad look she had let attach to her face.

She reminded him so much of himself when he had run away. Although, he had made it a little farther than her, he was going to keep Camille from making his mistakes. The punishment his father gave him was terrible enough to send shivers down his back.

Camille caught Chat's strange expression and let her laughter dissipate. His kind smile didn't match his lost gaze. Those green eyes told her a story. A tale of a poor boy who had gone through hardships that no one had ever heard before. Tears brimmed at her eyes. It was like he was remembering a painful memory, and he was telling her his entire story. His mind was obviously a thousand miles away, and it worried her.

Before she could change her mind, she wrapped her arms around his torso and leaned her forehead on his chest. She squeezed him tight afraid she would leave her all alone again. "Don't be sad, Chat." she choked trying to comfort him, letting the tears stream down her face. "If you're sad, how can I not be sad?"

Broken from his trace, Chat stared down at the girl wrapped around him and pushed his painful memories into a room, locked away. Camille was his first priority right now and now the person he was supposed to comfort was worrying about him. He hugged her back and ruffled her hair.

"I'm alright now, Camille. You don't need to cry for me." he whispered into her hair. She released him and wiped away her tears.

"I don't know what you've been through Chat, but if you can make it out okay, then I can make up with my mom." she determined.

Camille glanced behind Chat and her face seemed to glow. Actually, it was the flashing lights speeding towards them from down the road. Red and blue lights lit up the block from two police cars that raced down the block and parked just outside the park gate. Immediately, police officers ran from the vehicles and surrounded the two.

Scared senseless, Camille clung to Chat, trying to hide herself behind him. Chat was doing his best not to panic, but he was completely surrounded! He could probably make a get away if it was just him, but what about Camille? Now was definitely not the time to leave her behind. His mind was racing too fast to think anything worth evaluating.

As he was calculating possible escape routes, a middle-aged woman broke through the police officers and when she saw Camille, rushed towards them.

"Camille!"

"Mom?"

Camille raced from behind Chat and leapt into her mother's outstretched arms. Chat watched with a smile, biting back the pang of jealousy. This is why he was there. He was supposed to reunite Camille with her mother no matter what. His objective was achieved, but he still couldn't help but feel envious. He gave one last smile to Camille and turned to leave. But before he could take another step, a policeman yelled out to him.

He made the mistake of stopping to see what he wanted and ended up face first on the ground with the policeman on top of him. "Boy, you're being taken into custody on suspicion of kidnapping. I suggest you cooperate and take off that mask."

Chat was running out of options, and fast. The man on top of him weighed too much to be thrown off, so he marked that off the list. He could run as soon as he was able to, but being on the police 'wanted' list was also not a good idea. Forget that too.

"Charlie, I told you about Chat. He's my partner." came a familiar voice just off to the side. A familiar _female_ voice.

"But, he was trying to hide the girl! He was obviously up to something!"

Suddenly, the weight on top of Chat disappeared and he was able to see his savior-who of course was none other than the girl in the spotted getup.

Ladybug offered her hand to him, which he gratefully accepted and was pulled up to his feet. She smiled at him and turned back to the officer.

"See? Completely harmless. I told you he was with me. Wouldn't do anything crazy. Right?" she said looking to Chat for some kind of confirmation, in which he nodded. The officer, Charlie, looked skeptical but sighed weakly. "Whatever you say Ladybug, but I'm keeping my eye on him." And with that he walked away to finish the report a few other policemen talking with Camille and her mother.

"Great job tonight, Chat." Ladybug complimented. "I knew I could trust you."

Chat crossed his arms unconvinced. "Oh, really? Up until a while ago, I thought I was just going to leave. She wasn't my problem to begin with. I already told you, I'm not the 'saving' type." He debated. Why was he debating her on this? It was like he was trying to convince her that he was a horrible person. Not that he cared what she thought of him anyways…

To his surprise Ladybug chuckled through her nose and smiled knowingly at him. "I think _she_ would beg to differ." She said side glancing towards Camille. Chat followed her gaze and found Camille staring at him with the biggest smile he had ever seen. She made one last comment to Charlie before moving past her mother and running towards them.

Ladybug stepped out of the way of the freight train that was Camille. She slammed into Chat, nearly knocking him off his feet (or paws?). She hugged him tighter than he thought was physically possible for a girl her age. He glanced down at her shimmering eyes and smiled back.

When she finally released him, she began to pull something out of her back pocket. She slid it into his hand and as he looked down to see what it was, Camille landed a kiss on his cheek just below the mask.

"Thanks, Chat." she whispered and disappeared back to join her mother in one of the patrol cars as fast as she had appeared. He stared in silence until the cars had completely disappeared from view.

"Well," Ladybug said after clearing her throat, "I'd better be going, for real this time. I'll be seeing you soon Chat. I usually patrol between six and eight on most weekdays and between six and ten on weekends, so you better not be late, partner." She pulled out her yo-yo and swung it to a nearby building.

Wait. Patrol? _Partner?_

Ladybug seemed to notice his confusion. "I've been in need of some help with these recent attacks. Do you not want to help others like Camille? I guess you really aren't the saving type-"

"Wait!" Chat interrupted, but he wasn't sure what else to say. Helping out Camille turned out to be a lot less work than he may have originally thought, and saving Paris alongside Ladybug didn't sound too intimidating either. But was he really ready for this kind of thing? People could get hurt. The few people he was close to. Not to mention he could never tell anyone about his secret identity. Especially not his father. Was it all worth it? He took a deep breath.

"I'll do it."

Ladybug's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really? Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow night! Six o'clock sharp!"

Before Chat could say anything else, she was gone swinging out of the park, leaving him by himself. He was about to go home himself when he remembered the something Camille had slipped into his glove.

Pulling it up into the lamp light, he realized the small slip of paper in his hand was a bus ticket. It was scheduled for just an hour before Chat had intervened.

He smiled at the ticket, stashed it away, and took off in the direction of home.

* * *

 **I seriously cannot say thank you guys enough.**

 **The amount of reviews and favorites is astounding and I encourage you to keep it up!**

 **See ya next chapter!**


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